(CNN) - A proposed high-speed rail line in Florida may not be dead after all.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding last week for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, but the project has not run off the tracks yet. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood met with Scott Friday morning to discuss the plan in an attempt to keep it alive.

Washington (CNN) - One week before a potential government shutdown, Senate Democrats for the first time reacted positively to an offer from House Republicans that would keep the government running for two more weeks while cutting $4 billion.

“The plan the Republicans are floating today sounds like a modified version of what Democrats were talking about” in a proposal made to Republicans Thursday, said Jon Summers, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.FULL POST

(CNN) - Former President George W. Bush doesn't want to be on the same program with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and cancelled an appearance to make sure that happened.

Bush accepted an invite to deliver the keynote at the Young President's Organization's annual Global Youth Leadership Summit Saturday in Denver, but cancelled the appearance after learning that Julian Assange was also invited to address the summit.FULL POST

As the world reacts to the revolution in Libya, we’ll discuss the wave of uprisings sweeping the Middle East with two senators expert in foreign policy: independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. They’ve been traveling the Middle East and will share with us what they’ve learned, from Cairo, Egypt.

Then, we’ll shift to the national budget battle. Can both parties come together or will the government shut down on March 4? We’ll discuss with Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – Newt Gingrich, the potential presidential candidate who is intimately familiar with the last government shutdown 16 years ago, says queasy Republicans afraid of the political ramifications of history repeating itself need to cool down.

After all, Gingrich says, the effects of the last government shutdown weren't all that bad.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The battle over union rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana has dramatically shifted the budget debate from Capitol Hill to the states, almost overshadowing the threat of a government shutdown in Washington next week.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker garnered national attention as one of a handful of Republican governors emboldened by the midterm elections who now are trying to enact ambitious but controversial cost-cutting measures.

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's numbers are on the rise in the state that launched him towards the White House, according to a new poll.

A Des Moines Register survey released Friday indicates that the president's overall approval rating among Iowans stands at 48 percent, with 47 percent saying they disapprove of the job Obama's doing in the White House. The president's 48 percent approval is up 3 points from September, and is his highest approval in Iowa in Des Moines Register polling since November 2009. And among independent voters, the poll indicates Obama's numbers are on the rise.FULL POST